Kagura Kaburagi
Kagura Kaburagi (鏑木・神楽, Kaburagi Kagura literally Arrowhead Tree, Divine Entertainment), also known by the alias Francesca Giovanna (フランチェスカ・ジョバアーナ, Furanchesuka Jōbana), is a Shinigami who stations herself in the city of Venice, Italy, after her defection from Soul Society. Originally a dedicated follower of the Shinigami way, after serving as the Guardian Shinigami in Akihabara for a while and interacting with the humans there, she realized how alien the Shinigami's way of thinking was, and defected. Moving to Venice, Kagura decided to work as the town's protector, away from the authority of Soul Society. Appearance Kagura is a fairly tall young woman with shimmering azure hair and dark blue eyes. She has a side pony-tail on the left side of her head that is longer than the rest of her hair, which falls to just above her waist and cut straight. She is stated to have "the height of your average Japanese schoolgirl", and she has a slender, waifish build. Kagura's skin is also said to be so white and smooth that it appears almost like she's made of porcelain. Her facial features are very child-like to the point that when she smiles, it is completely radiant. She has snow-white skin that is akin to a princess's; along with a beautiful figure—moderately large breasts, long, slender legs, and a shapely rear. Due to her kind appearance, it is easier to see what Kagura is feeling. Due to her beauty (and also looking fairly youthful), she is compared to a Yamato Nadeshiko, which is a woman with attributes that were considered desirable in the (male-dominated) neo-Confucian Japan of the nineteenth century and beyond. Despite such a comparison, Kagura's personality is exactly the opposite. In her civilian attire, Kagura wears a cap, a red short sleeved shirt that exposes a very large portion of her midriff, a short yellow hoodie, a necklace around her neck with a puzzle piece-shaped pendant, and a low-cut green colored denim skirt with a brown pouch around her waist. She also wears a yellow bracelet on her left wrist accompanied with a ring on her pinkie finger, and knee-length brown medium heeled boots with yellow stripes on the sides. However, in her Shinigami attire, she ditches the cap, and replaces her clothing with that of the traditional Shinigami Shihakushō (死覇装, Garment of Dead Souls); which is the black kimono worn by Shinigami—she wears a white night-gown underneath, as well as a sapphire armband on her left arm. She carries her Zanpakutō at her side. Personality and Traits Kagura is a quiet and near-emotionless young woman; who simply views herself as a tool of destruction. Her quietness is not due to a lack of self-confidence however; it is because she does not fear anything; aside from her nightmares. She has a "no-nonsense" attitude, and follows through with any declaration that she makes with unexpected determination, putting said order before anything else. Kagura always remains bitter and apathetic towards other people. In the company of those she is fond of, Kagura's cold facade shatters completely, as she becomes incredibly shy, unable to look those she has grown attached to in the eye, complimented by a continual stutter. In conversation, on the rare times that she participates in it, Kagura has extreme difficulty reading the atmosphere in situations and usually just speaks out what comes to mind in her usual deadpan tone, sometimes making others surprised at her actions. Kagura often misinterprets what others say and takes some things literally; this usually results in others becoming briefly alienated and Kagura feeling ashamed for her horrible social skills, which she constantly attempts to improve so that she can feel the same as everyone else. She is also able to forgive easily—generally, when finding out about the past of an opponent, she can sympathize with them and will inadvertently promise to help them almost immediately, though it should be noted that she usually attempts to brush it off as "nothing personal". Kagura generally attempts to keep her cool under most circumstances, and no matter what her enemies ever do to her, she can sometimes come up with a retort to it of questionable quality. Kagura can seem at times to be uncaring or even callous, but actually has a very strong sense of justice and prefers to fight fairly. Kagura has a habit of lapsing into internal monologue, which she, naturally having horrible social skills, conveys her thoughts and feelings. It is during these first-person moments she reveals she deliberately acts the way he does to push others away for fear of getting close to them and her insecurities. Also, she shows an inferiority complex that makes her believe she can't do anything right or complete. This complex can be seen in her usual internal monologue, as she always complains about the situation but she never says it unless a subject particularly enrages her, at which point she will drop all aloofness and assertively state her distaste, all while keeping a sarcastic tone. Even so, Kagura can incredibly flippant, casually mouthing off to even the most powerful of opponents, and she generally enjoys rubbing people the wrong way. While Kagura is usually disinterested and anti-social, she will become uncharacteristically attentive and eager to help if it concerns her personal interests, despite usually having nothing notable in particular to contribute, and enjoys listening to those with similar interests, even if they and she were on previously bad terms. Kagura is also quick to agree with certain viewpoints, as she finds them "fascinating", though at times, it seems to others that she agrees because others she is familiar with support said decisions. If she is unsure of anything, she will immediately ask for the definition when it concerns her favourite subjects, though she will often forget key elements and have to ask again, much to her dismay. Due to her aloofness and the apathetic air she exudes, very few actively take interest in Kagura, whose motto and way of life has become "If you receive a little kindness, give them a large serving." Due to her time spent as the Guardian Shinigami of Akihabara, Kagura has gained a certain aversion to bright lights and technology, because of her overexposure to them. Because of that, Kagura decided that Venice was the best place to go—as not only was it visually beautiful, Italy seemed to not rely on technology as much as Japan did. In addition, she found the water channels and hopping across rooftops relatively soothing, overall finding her new home superior to where she was originally stationed. From that, it can be indicated that Kagura has a love of fresh, open air and freedom in general, refusing to conform to others' standards. History Not much is known about Kagura's past; however, she is said to be born in the Junrinan (潤林安, Lush Forest Peace) the first district of West Rukongai; she was sent there during the 10th Century, originally being from an earlier era. Originally, in Junrinan, Kagura was simply focused upon surviving for a living, stealing food and getting into fights whenever she was forced to. However, twenty years passed, and she was enrolled within the Shinōreijutsuin (真央霊術院, Spiritual Arts Academy); where she quickly rose to fame as one of the few prodigies to be schooled there. She excelled in Kidō in particular, though regarding learning other spells, Kagura only focused on one—Hadō no. 33, Sōkatsui (蒼火墜, Blue Fire, Crash Down), as she believed in Bruce Lee's motto of "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."—though it should be noted that due to the timeframe, the quote was attributed to somebody else. Because of that, she had mastered this singular spell to the point that she could have surpassed the members of the Kuchiki clan in its utilization; though this is a citation that is needed. Soon after graduating, Kagura joined the Thirteenth Division (十三番隊, Jūsanbantai) under Jūshirō Ukitake; she was the sixth seat; the reason for joining was because Ukitake wasn't a "colossal jerk-off" like the rest of the Captains. Soon after that, she activated her Shikai during a mission, where she and her squadmates fought against a Gillian class Hollow, and while they weren't able to put a scratch upon it, Kagura managed to activate her Shikai, and in a flash of light, vaporized it. Impressed with her battle, the fourth seat offered to trade places, something which she declined, seeing positions as nothing important in the long run. A few hundred years after that, she was assigned as the Guardian Shinigami of Akihabara, the "Electric Town". Kagura, never having encountered this much technology in her life, as well as the blinding lights, was quickly overwhelmed by all of the sensations. After spending ten years there, Kagura was called back to Soul Society. Having barely survived the first Vandenreich invasion, when Mayuri Kurotsuchi had slaughtered twenty-eight thousand souls in Soul Society to restore balance, Kagura, whom had learnt that Souls and Humans were very similar, and that Shinigami logic was "alien", quit in disgust, vowing to eventually return and murder Kurotsuchi in cold blood, but not before leaving a thank-you letter to Ukitake and her fellow squadmates. From there, Kagura entered a Gigai and traveled across the world, before finding the city known as Venice in Italy. Finding the open city and its environment rather breathtaking, Kagura bought a house there, deciding to live there, while acting as its own Guardian Shinigami—mainly because as far as she knew, there was no foreign alternative to Soul Society. Synopsis Powers and Abilities Zankensoki Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Kagura, during her time at the Shinōreijutsuin, became particularly versed in the art of Zanjutsu (斬術, Swordsmanship); which is the fighting style for the Zanpakutō (i.e. sword fighting) and is one of the four basic fighting styles of the Shinigami. While she did not particularly show any favour of the traditional ways in order to learn Zanjutsu, Kagura decided that after her time in the academy to drop any of the traditional teaching and simply "wing it". Kagura is primarily an instinctual fighter, using relying on subconscious knowledge of practical yet flashy sword techniques to deal punishing blows to her hapless opponents. Kagura is able to produce beams of energy by swinging her weapon, can effortlessly cut through solid metal and concrete, and can swing the sword faster than the eye can see, striking opponents multiple times in only a few seconds, attacking with a fast one-handed style with her blade. Kagura utilizes many graceful flips, twirls, and cartwheels, often throwing her sword at her opponent in battle. Kagura is also capable of utilizing her scabbard as an off-hand weapon when cornered. Her attacks are so fierce and swift, that her foes rarely, if ever, have the chance to launch a proper counterattack. Her swordsmanship is enough for her to slash with enough force to cause her swings to become capable of slicing through metal using only the air pressure. Utilizing sweeping, random movements, unpredictability is her greatest asset when forced to pick up a bladed weapon. Many of her attacks are initiated by Kagura jumping or dodging before attacking, letting her swiftly dodge enemy attacks and counter with her own in the same movement. Her attacks consist of fast-paced sword combos and powerful kicks, and she is mostly a melee fighter, as most of her ranged attacks are mid-ranged, and she has slow recovery when attacking. As with her hand-to-hand style, Kagura's swordfighting is based upon breakdancing, something only her odd mind could come up with, making up her next movements as well as techniques as she fights. Kagura has an incredibly aggressive style: she is constantly on the offensive, and eschews any defensive moves in favour of speed and strength, striking heavy and hard while lightning fast. Her power attacks are able to knock her opponents back just through sheer kinetic force, throwing them off balance and leaving them vulnerable to further brute-force strikes and power blows that sought not just to penetrate her opponents' defense, but also to push them back and leave them unable to counter blows; leading her style of battle to be tremendously deadly. *'Ken'atsu' (剣圧, Sword Pressure): A basic ability which can be learned by almost everyone and their mother, but it sure is deadly if utilized properly; it is the most basic techniques that one can perform with their sword. When performing the Sword Pressure technique, the user swings forward with their sword, swinging the blade so swiftly that it seems that the user is able to utilize air itself to slice enemies, focusing a current of wind to the point where it takes on a sharp edge, which the user launches at foes; sending it through the air towards the user's enemy. It is a powerful blade of pressure that appears as faint ripples of wind that is launched towards the foe at high speeds; this attack enables the user to assault things which are out of their sword's range, sending slashes which fly through the air itself; and can even remain floating in it until the right moment to slash. The person struck by the sword pressure is assaulted by countless invisible blades which happens so fast that they would normally be unable to properly react in time, carving up their body. Also, the strong wind power will blow away all incoming projectile weapons and will even make the opponent unable to stay on their feet; this technique possesses enough power to slice down many trees in a forest. This technique can deflect both physical and sound wave attacks and attack at the same time, making it both an offensive and defensive technique. These blades of wind possess incredible range and devastating power; and at its highest level of mastery, the sword pressure is capable of cutting through barriers of magical energy; and they can even remain floating within the air until the right minute to slash. *'Phantom Blade' (幻影剣, Geneiken): Phantom Blade is a unique Zanjutsu technique that qualifies as a hybrid technique—it is a merger between Zanjutsu and spiritual power manipulation; it was created by Kagura prior to her desertion of Soul Society. In order to initiate Phantom Blade, Kagura gathers and condenses her spiritual energy into her Zanpakutō; from there, she ignites her spiritual pressure, resulting in a whirling mass of aura raging upon her blade. Due to her spiritual pressure's unique trait of "spirit collection", which is to say, that it gathers stray spiritual particles into the aura and converts them into more spiritual energy, the Zanpakutō is granted numerous unique properties. This results in the magical power-collection-type fighting style that allows Kagura's Zanpakutō to perform almost any action. When Kagura's blade is infused with her raw spiritual power, it replaces the hard, metal blade of the sword with a blade of light, similar to a laser. When Phantom Blade is in effect, it turns Kagura's attack into a power on the physical and spiritual side. This makes it incredibly useful for fighting beings who not have physical bodies and therefore can only be hurt with spiritual power. It can also be used against foes whose spiritual bodies are sealed off or missing, and thus are immune to most spiritual techniques. The Phantom Blade is powerful enough to destroy weak Hollows in a single blow if Kagura can manage to hit them. The size and length of the blade appears to correspond with the amount of Kagura's spiritual power that she poured into it. At its fullest, Phantom Blade can result in a long blade of light, while when exhausted from spiritual energy, Kagura creates smaller, sometimes flickering blades. Due to the blade now being composed of spiritual energy, the Phantom Blade can also be used to channel and amplify Kidō, increasing their power as they are released from the blade. The sword can also absorb Kagura's Sōkatsui to become stronger for short periods of time. Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Obviously, the art of hand-to-hand combat is not Kagura's forte—being a sword girl and all—but notably, she at least has a fair amount of skill in the area. As such, she prefers to avoid utilizing hand-to-hand combat whenever possible. Hakuda (白打, White Hits) is a close-combat style of fighting, in which one is unarmed and uses only one's body, and is one of the four basic fighting styles of the Shinigami; during her time at the Shinōreijutsuin, Kagura was never too interested in the art of Hakuda, preferring to focus upon Shunpō and Kidō with some interest in Zanjutsu. However, Kagura's fighting style is still fairly polished. Her incredible skill in the art is drastically enhanced by her inherent great strength, giving her the ability to unleash devastating blows with ease. Noticeably, Kagura's favoured manner of close combat is by using powerful kicks to devastate her foes; and it should be taken into account that her fighting style follows no "school" at all; utilizing her amazing mind, Kagura, when locked into the heat of hand-to-hand combat, can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against her enemies. Most of Kagura's combat moves focus on using graceful and delicate movements, similar to ballet moves, to strike precise and hard blows at her opponents. When attacking, she tends to use her feet when launching physical blows. Hohō User: Kagura, during her time at the Shinōreijutsuin, decided to at least put some effort into learning the Shinigami art of Hohō (歩法, Step Method); which is a defensive style of fighting which relates to footwork. Since it is an important skill for most Shinigami, which incorporates speed and agility; Kagura had taken it up and quickly managed to get a basic handle upon the skill. The skill level of Hohō can be enhanced and improved through concentration, training, and mastery of it. In any case, Kagura is highly proficient in the art of Shunpo (瞬歩, Flash Steps); which is a movement technique that allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow. The focal point which determines the basis of this technique is speed. As speed is the main factor of the technique, the method is best characterized by how fast one can get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps. Training and skill are what determines how fast a user of Shunpo can move; users of little skill in the technique or those who have not used it for an extended period of time would obviously be out of practice, causing them to be considerably slower, which requires the use of more steps to move the same distance and become winded in a shorter amount of time. It should be noted that Kagura is highly proficient in evasion techniques, in both close-quarters as well as from a distance, constantly moving in zigzagging patterns to confuse her opponent, thus making hitting her almost impossible if not for the most advanced combatant. Unlike other Shunpo users, Kagura does not disappear while moving, instead; white streaks of light scatter off of her feet as she accelerates, while creating multiple after-images of herself, which have the added effect of confusing the enemy. *'Piedi Cielo' (空中歩行（ピヂ・シロ）, Pidi Siro lit. Sky Walk): Piedi Cielo is a special Hohō technique developed by Kagura during her time in the Human World. It was adapted from the Spiriton Platforms utilized by the Quincy and their Hirenkyaku. When activating Piedi Cielo, Kagura gathers and condenses spiritons upon her feet, before utilizing Shunpo to elevate herself into the air by a few centimeters; after she does this, Kagura spreads the spiritons outwards, solidifying them with her spiritual pressure, leading to the formation of a crudely-made platform of spiritual energy. Upon her feet touching the platform, Kagura is capable of mentally moving it around—or, to increase speed, she can stomp once or twice upon the center, activating Shunpo in order to give it an extra boost. In addition, it can perform the exact same functions as a Spiriton Platform, with Kagura able to elevate or descend as much as she wishes to upon it. She has shown to be able to use this platform as a means of offense, being able to kick it at the opponent, and causes severe damage upon impact. To the opposite extreme, it can be used for defense, and can block fairly powerful attacks. Kidō Prodigy: At the Shinōreijutsuin, while Kagura performed about average in every other subject, teachers noticed that she had a certain knack for Kidō (鬼道, Spirit Way); which is a form of Shinigami combat based on advanced spells. These spells are produced with strong Reiryoku and fall into two categories: Hadō for direct attacks, and Bakudō for battle support. Kidō spells are triggered by an incantation. Experienced users can trigger them without an incantation, though the effectiveness of the spell will be diminished. However, Kagura herself was an odd one; as she simply preferred to focus on a singular spell— Hadō no. 33, Sōkatsui (蒼火墜, Blue Fire, Crash Down). She believed that if she had absolutely mastered a single Hadō, that was all that she needed; having perfected it to the point that she perhaps surpassed all other users of the spell, even the Kuchiki clan, whom were particularly talented in its usage. While she has very little understanding of the finer points of Kidō such as Bakudō and other methods of casting the spells, Kagura has mastered this one spell to the point that it has become the "ultimate spear"; a fire-type spell without any peer. However, soon after mastering Sōkatsui, Kagura has began to work on another spell to master—though she has not revealed it as of yet. *'Sōkatsui' (蒼火墜, Blue Fire, Crash Down) is a Kidō spell. When performing Sōkatsui, blue flames begin to discharge from the palm of the user, as they aim the palm of their hand at their target and generate a torrent of azure energy before firing it at their target. When the user thrusts their palm at their desired target, the energy that produces a surging wave of flame is expelled that results in a punching force traveling through the air in the opponent's direction; manifested in the form of a giant fireball that inflicts massive damage; followed by a massive explosion upon impact. Suffice to say, Sōkatsui is a powerful spell with great force, capable of causing relatively large amounts damage and destruction. The energy of the spell moves like a direct blast or a large wave of energy, depending on the amount of power which is placed into it. Kagura is such a master of the Hadō spell, that she perhaps surpasses the Kuchiki clan in terms of its usage, though this cannot be properly claimed, as she has defected from Soul Society and no royalty is willing to chase after her. In fact, Kagura has developed a unique way of utilizing the spell, causing it to be much more powerful—by compacting the spiritons that compose the Hadō attack into its spiritual energy center, the moving speed of the flames of Sōkatsui increase—this enables the spell to act in a similar manner to that of a drill, boring into anything that is unfortunate enough to come into contact with the attack, inflicting even more damage than usual. If not utilized against a Hollow opponent, this variation of Sōkatsui is capable of launching an opponent backward upon contact, leaving a sizzling crater. Kagura's version of the spell is multi-hitting, the maximum usually being five hits, and it has a property that lets it break through any projectile, which usually catches foes by surprise, as well as blow reinforced, solid walls without effort, making it one of Kagura's most powerful techniques. However, for all it's power and Kagura's expertise at utilizing it, Sōkatsui has one major weakness—Kagura itself. Due to her weak spiritual power, her rendition of Sōkatsui tends to "fizzle out" after a distance of fifty meters in flight, and after this, there seems to be a feedback drain inflicted upon Kagura that causes some of her spiritual energy to dissipate into the area; essentially, this causes Kagura's rendition of Sōkatsui to become a double-edged sword. The incantation of Sōkatsui is, "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." (君臨者よ！血肉の仮面•万象•羽ばたき•ヒトの名を冠する者よ！真理と節制、罪知らぬ夢の壁に僅かに爪を立てよ！, Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shinri to sessei, tsumi shirame yume no kabe ni wazuka ni tsume o tate yo!); however, Kagura prefers to shorten it to simply the Hadō's name; due to her mastery of the spell, it does not lose any power, indeed it seems even stronger for discarding such a worthless incantation. **'Sōsenjin' (蒼閃刃, Azure Flashing Blade): Sōsenjin is a variation of the regular Sōkatsui spell; instead of launching the flames, when utilizing this spell, Kagura focuses the blue fire of the spell onto her blade. When initiating Sōsenjin, Kagura manifests a regular Sōkatsui upon her hand, before placing it upon her blade. This ignites the spiritons that the weapon is composed of, setting it alight with a blade of blazing wildfire, this serves to distract the opponent from her swings. The result is being simultaneously burned and slashed simultaneously, giving this attack great power. Lastly, this technique is nearly unblockable as the blazing blade can easily cut through steel. Furthermore, if an opponent is stabbed, the flames spread to their body, causing them to catch ablaze. Its slashes are capable of trailing large amounts of flames in its wake, which can damage the opponent. The moment that the halberd makes contact with the foe via impaling them, the composition of the sword is altered to cause additional, smaller blades to protrude from the blade inside of the foe's body, drastically increasing the number of wounds dealt to the foe. Kagura can also launch multiple flaming swords to make a lancing-type move; where she directs the sabers towards her target, aiming to impale them with incredible speed and force. However, mid-flight, the sabers veer off wildly in different directions, homing in on different targets in order to attempt to take out multiple opponents at once. When making contact with the opponent, the sabers set them ablaze. Kagura can utilize the flaming blade as transportation; the sword moves at high speeds to the point that she becomes a blur. At any moment, Kagura can leap off of her transportation and strike her foe, either downwards or overhead with tremendous force. By swinging her weapon, she can throw the condensed flames against enemies that are far away. Physical Abilities High Strength: In stark contrast with her slim and womanly figure, Kagura possesses positively enormous amounts of physical strength, having been repeatedly shown capable of lifting and dragging around objects many times her own size and weight, most prominently due to her habit of carrying around a sword as large as she is tall. The fact that she is capable of swinging her weapon one-handedly without any strain is a true testament to her titanic strength. In fact, she is so powerful, that she is capable of splitting the hydrogen in the air just by swinging her word, allowing her to cause a small explosion that inflicts decent damage. Another feat of strength is that she can punch the ground with enough force to cause extremely small fissures. Kagura is able to lift and press three metric tons, and she can perform other amazing feats such as punching holes right through thick steel, shatter boulders to smithereens and lift objects many times her own size and weight; a shocking display of fearsome power in itself. Her strength allows Kagura to create thin shockwaves of air that cleanly cut through anything they come in contact with. Furthermore; she shows the ability to pulverize large boulders and the like with a single strike using her finger. Extremely High Speed: Kagura is naturally immensely fast on her feet; her movements are so tremendously swift that few would be likely to see an attack take place—this enables her to attack almost a multiple of ten times in a row per second; and she manages to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between her and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight in the span of a few moments. Her attacks are so fast the opponent cannot even perceive them until after they are hit, and her speed is more than enough to outrun her own attacks, allowing her to strike and enhance her attacks, or launch simultaneous attacks at the opponent from different angles. By focusing this power into a single leg, Kagura can launch a much faster kick with much greater impact; capable of blowing her opponent away. Overall, Kagura is capable of defying normal physics and zipping around with tremendous speed; and is able to move backwards at full speed just as well as forwards. Due to such speed, she is able to scale right up the walls of buildings, or similar structures, and can also run right over water. Low Durability: Kagura is much weaker in physical strength compared to other Shinigami, since her legs buckle inwards as she slides whereas many of the others keep them bent strong. She also gives the impression of being as weak as ice, though the grievous wounds that she receives throughout her numerous battles imply that she is somewhat tough as well; overall, she relies more on multi-hitting techniques and her immense swiftness in order to get the job done, as those two fortes are what she is best at. A major contributing factor to this is her low physical durability, and the fact that it is virtually impossible for her to take a 'serious' hit; though it is still very much above the average Shinigami. Notable Intelligence: Despite her demeanour, Kagura is shown to be fairly crafty. This is due to her time as a street rat, where she was forced to fend for herself and develop a certain cunning in order to survive. Because of this, she's shown herself to be fairly analytical and deductive. Despite the fact that she more often than not focuses solely upon her physical skills and Kidō spell, Kagura is capable of analyzing and breaking down the structure and movements of her opponents' techniques, which grants her the ability to somewhat predict the opposing attack a second time around—though this is not fool-proof. Kagura is a recognized genius; though this only applies to certain subjects, i.e. the things that interest her; which isn't very much due to her narrowly defined interests. While it is obvious that her intellect does not extend to her piss-poor knowledge of behaviour of other beings -either because she possesses horrible social skills or everyone around her needs to see a shrink- in regards to minor things such as little bits of trivia about the most random of subjects. Spiritual Abilities Low Spiritual Power: Despite being a sixth seat in the Thirteenth Division, Kagura has not shown any type of incredible amounts of spiritual energy. Indeed, she simply has the basic amount needed to be accepted as a Shinigami. While extremely powerful and considered a genius due to combining spiritual power and swordsmanship in the form of the Phantom Blade technique; something that not many people know is that Kagura does not have a truly staggering amount of spiritual energy unlike most Shinigami, but this is most definitely not to say that she is weak—in fact, she is the exact opposite of such a term. Because Kagura's spiritual power is fairly miniscule, she has absolute control over it; as it does not leak out and seep into the environment like other spiritual beings. While normally having only a small amount of spiritual power would be a disadvantage, Kagura has shown such masterful and precise control over her power that she is capable of shaping and utilizing her spiritual power in a multitude of ways; showing several techniques and applications that can leave magicians with more sheer power than her confused, as her mind is considered to be fairly advanced in its thinking patterns. For example, Kagura is capable of projecting her spiritual energy as unnamed spheres or waves of pure spiritual energy which can deal a fair amount of damage, ropes to bind enemies, jet-bursts of speed, or she can use it to boost her defenses by wrapping it around her entire body, serving as a barrier of sorts against both regular and spiritual attacks, as well as working to protect her from opposing spiritual pressures. *'Spiritual Pressure' (霊圧, Reiatsu): Spiritual Pressure is the physical force/pressure that a person's spiritual energy creates when released. In order to activate one's spiritual pressure, the user's spiritual energy flares up, being released into the environment in the form of pure energy; this holds considerable pressure surrounding it. This spiritual pressure can be utilized in order to intimidate another person, or as a preparation for a particularly strong Kidō spell. A single spiritual pressure can have a wide variety of effects dependent on the power an individual exerts; Kagura's aura almost consumes her in its colour, leaving nothing but a phantom-like apparition to remain. However, it does not have much width or length due to her small amount of spiritual pressure, and instead is mainly used for extra defense or to power up her Sōkatsui spells. It should be noted that Kagura's spiritual pressure has a unique property; it gathers and condenses stray spiritons as long as Kagura is in the immediate vicinity, drawing them into her spiritual pressure, where they are converted into spiritual energy, thus making the spiritual aura more powerful. *'Gentei Reiin' (限定霊印, Soul-Limiting Symbol): The Gentei Reiin is the means by which Shinigami have their spiritual energy reduced by about 80% when they enter the Human World by means of a spiritual limit in order not to cause unnecessarily high damage while there. Before defecting from Soul Society, Mayuri Kurotsuchi placed a Gentei Reiin upon Kagura's body, ensuring that she would be unable to fight against him if she had ever returned to fight him. Due to this version being fairly specialized, even after thirty years, the Gentei Reiin has not weakened—not like Kagura seems to care. However, after talking with a certain other science-versed Shinigami, Kagura has learnt how to circumvent the seal placed upon her, all with the command "Gentei Kaijo" (限定解除, Limiter Release); after this, her full spiritual power will be unleashed. While the boost in power is seemingly not much due to Kagura's miniscule amount of spiritual power, in an actual fight, it is capable of making all the difference between victory and defeat. Zanpakutō Shiranui (不知火, Mysterious Light at Sea) is the name of Kagura's Zanpakutō. When it's in its sealed state, Shiranui takes upon the form of a stylized katana—the tsuba is noted to be in a four-pronged shape with "emitters" at the end of these prongs—these prongs release small amounts of spiritual power whenever Kagura utilizes its sealed state ability. The pommel seems to have a chain connected to it—Kagura is capable of wrapping it around her arm in order to steady her aim. The blade itself is fairly strong; as it is capable of defending against an opponent's Shikai form with little to no injury to the sword itself, and a simple swing of the blade would release a small shockwave. Kagura prefers to wield her sword in her left hand. *'Sealed Ability: Rakka Rouzeki' (落花狼藉, Scattered Blossoms): Unlike other Zanpakutō, Shiranui has an ability in its sealed state—though it is purely offensive. Upon performing Rakka Rouzeki, Kagura charges spiritual energy into her blade. Holding it in one of her hands, she condenses the spiritual energy to its utmost limit while she raises it clockwise until she is grasping it above her head, the sword piercing the sky. Compressing the spiritual energy, Kagura grips her sword tightly, before swiftly swinging down with overwhelming force—unleashing her sword and delivers a single almighty slash that has no peer; this causes the spiritual energy to be launched off of the blade, which takes the form of an extremely large and destructive sparking blast, which produces an immense amount of light and is capable of travelling for great distances, wreaking havoc wherever it passes. After firing, the path of the blast can be controlled, and it possesses explosive power and speed; it is capable of immense destruction, as shown when it shot through several towers upon the first use. The power, speed, blast area, force, and size of the attack is far beyond any other application of Kagura's Sōkatsui; to point of seriously harming a Menos Grande. Interestingly, with its astounding destructive power, has a delayed effect if the initial blast should fail, wherein the target will be blasted by residual effects left over by the sword beam. While not as overwhelming as the initial blast, the after-effect can catch foes off guard. Shikai: When released, Shiranui's blade releases an enormous amount of energy, which surrounds Kagura in its entirety. As the energy subsides, it is revealed that the energy has morphed Kagura's clothing into a peculiar bodysuit—mainly in blacks and blues, possessing elongated white boots, gauntlets, and a high-collar. In particular, the bodysuit resembles a one-piece swimsuit. While it does not look like much, the armour Shiranui provides serves as an incredible defense—upon contact with an opposing attack, the armour quickly gathers and condenses stray spiritons into a singular location and then spreads them out as a barrier, which, more often than not, will serve as a way to cushion the blow. The design of the armour focuses on mobility rather than armour strength as Kagura is rarely hit, and as the spiritual defenses can compensate for the defensive fragility; which is actually non-existent. As a result, the movement range of the joints is increased through the splitting of the armour and its sliding mechanism. To complement this, the armour also has anti-spiriton armour; which provides a small defense against spiritual beings—similar to sekki-seki. When the anti-spiriton armour activates, the armour possesses beyond enhanced flexibility and through its glowing effect, is able to discharge overflowing residual energy within the body through the joints. This internal anti-spiriton armour also helps to withstand the high output caused by Kagura's incredibly speedy movement, playing a role in increasing the armour mobility. However, in its Shikai form, Shiranui, the blade itself, stays exactly the same—though its attack power is enhanced ever-so slightly. Shikai Special Ability: The ability of Shiranui's first form is that one similar to Hanataro Yamada's Hisagomaru, though naturally, much, much more powerful. With every strike of that katana (which is forged from Nippon steel, filthy gaijin go home), the blade gathers more and more spiritons, with the blade sending them to Kagura's spirit core (or whatever the heart of a ghost samurai is)- absorbing spiritons from the opponent with every attack. In order to activate the Zanpakutō's special ability, sword has an "limit meter" that fills as Kagura collects spiritons; this happens to occur whenever an attack is landed or an attack is blocked. Once enough spiritons are collected, with the call of the activation phrase, "Break the boundaries, Shiranui" (限界突破・不知火, Genkai Toppa, Shiranui), Kagura begins to glow a bright azure; her body becoming saturated with the collected spiritons to the point that she receives an enormous boost of power all across the board, as well as controlling her movements better and maximizing her Zanpakutō's output. It is also possible to concentrate the power in specific internal components to increase their physical strength. Overall, utilizing this ability increases Kagura's speed, attack and defense by thrice her normal specifications. Once the Zanpakutō's ability is unleashed, the spiritons gathered slowly drains, and the ability deactivates when it is depleted, though she can still collect spiritons, refilling her power as it is depleted. Bankai: Not Yet Achieved. Relationships Trivia *This is the first thing that Per has done in like...shit, maybe a year. It was also done out of boredom. While Bleach is pretty garbage now, one must admit that the mythos and worlds are nice. Category:Female Category:Characters Category:Persona Superior Deus Category:PersonaSuperiorDeus Category:Shinigami Category:Exiled Shinigami